


Joys the Festival Bring

by Kae_the_Minish_Bandit



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), submission for discord anniversary!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 08:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30035691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kae_the_Minish_Bandit/pseuds/Kae_the_Minish_Bandit
Summary: When Sky walks into Four's Hyrule Town, he is struck by how similar it is to Skyloft. While exploring the Picori festival, he ponders this a bit, chatting with Four all the while.
Relationships: Four & Sky (Linked Universe)
Kudos: 45





	Joys the Festival Bring

**Author's Note:**

> i didnt win the competion but im still so fricking proud of this

In Hyrule Town, there was a general aura of happiness floating around, high above all the distress the last few years have caused in Hyrule. Hardships of those years forgotten in the giddiness of the annual Picori festival, the people bustling around, chittering as the like of squirrels and birds would. Some of the townsfolk visit the bakeries of Wheaton and Peta to try their luck at perhaps gaining a kinstone while still others traded shells for delicate carvings made by Carlov.

It’s still very early in the day, even despite the sun having come up hours ago. Still, the fragile stillness of dawn has already been broken by the many people already walking around, exploring the festival by themselves. Children explore the fair, as they do each year, while the adults meander around in groups, only glancing at the many stalls around them which are showcasing many of the craftspeople’s finest works, gossiping and discussing the weather and such.

The atmosphere is so kind, so cheery, and, to a particular hero, ever so reminiscent of Skyloft. There’s the specific character, a certain feel, of Four’s hometown that is oh so similar to Sky’s. The houses here even have a similar design, eggshell coloured walls of a hard stone with vivid roofs and circular windows.

Given what they know about the timeline placement, it is quite possible that the houses here were, in fact, modeled after those in Skyloft, but that didn’t even cross his mind. He was too caught up in the moment, the movement, even, of Four’s home. 

“It’s so pretty, Four. I love Hyrule Town, there’s just something about it that’s so, so perfect,” Sky murmurs in amazement. It’s true; the town is picturesque, and it feels like it wouldn’t be out of place in a painting.. 

Four has a bagel in his mouth, as he had grabbed a few from the baker’s, and he has to take it out to respond. An awkward laugh accompanies a, “I like to think it’s nice. I live here of course, so I’m not really a proper judge.”

A lyre is being strummed, accompanied by a flute and by a tambourine. Played by three sisters, with incredibly colourful hair, the music rises above the crowd. It is fitting of the mood in town right now, bright and almost comedic. Accompanied by the giddy grins of children listening to stories told by an old man, the already eye-catching lanterns and paper figures that are clustered around the down, decorating it, seem even more radiant.

“When Zelda and I were coming through here about a day before my first adventure, we kept asking the stupidest questions about the story he,” Four pointed at the storyteller, “Was telling. Why, we asked, did the hero in the stories not eat the troublesome spirits that he had sealed in the chests? Did the Picori live in our school books? Where, exactly, did they come from every century? Did they come from melons? Cheese perhaps?” He sends a cheeky smile towards Sky. “I’d like to say that we had a good sense of humor, but I’m a bit sure if that’s a lie or not. Pretty sure it’s the former, but, hey, you never know!”

“Can’t say I didn’t do the exact same thing in the knight academy. A bit of comedy makes remembering things a lot easier, surprisingly.” Sky responds with a wink. “It’s far easier to remember what colour a goddess would have dyed her hair than what hero she would have chosen.”

Four looked up in interest, a mischievous smile on his face. “Oh? What colour did she dye her hair? I’ve got to know now, in order to tell Dot, I’m sure she would want to know this crucial information.”

Sky scrunched up his face in conversation. “I think it was maybe some shade of pink? I can’t remember the specific shade though, so this crucial information of yours doesn’t exist, probably.”

“So what you’re saying is that this goddess has hair the same colour as Legend.”

A snort from Sky, accompanied by a smirk from Four left the two in relative silence for a bit. They took in the festival a bit more, Four occasionally stopping to to chat with a townsperson. Just drinking it all in was quite enough for Sky. There weren’t this many people living on Skyloft, he knew. Sky was also very sure that this wasn’t even all the people living in Hyrule Town. He knew that a bunch of people on Skyloft stayed home during festivals, and he figured things would be pretty similar in Four’s Hyrule.

And so they walked on, and hours later, with the sun considerably higher in the sky than when they had arrived, Four finally stopped in his tracks, seemingly remembering something important. “I almost forgot! There’s a sword fighting tournament, it’s probably over with already but Dot’ll probably be there and it’ll be fun nonetheless! I wonder who delivered the sword this year, since I haven’t been here?”

Sky, who of course had no answer to this because why would he? gave a noise of acknowledgement and motioned for Four to lead them on their way. The shorter hero did such, an

To get to the castle, where, according to Four, the princess probably was, they had to leave town. It was a bit strange to Sky, as in all other Hyrules, the castle was attached to the main town, but it seemed that it was different here. He guessed that the difference between these scenarios was that this was Hyrule Town rather than Castle Town. Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask.

“Four, why is Hyrule Castle away from town? Wouldn’t that be a safety hazard, or at the very least an inconvenience?”

Four didn’t respond for a good while, seemingly questioning it himself. “I’m not sure, actually. It is a bit of a hassle to get from the market to the castle, but I think it’s more bad design than an actual decision the builders made? Like I don’t think it was supposed to be annoying. I guess that it would make sense if the town had been built in your time, and then a castle would have been added, but there was no suitable ground nearby? Either way, despite the minor annoyance, it’s great to have an excuse to escape town,” he grins at Sky, “not to mention scamming business scrubs!”

Sky chuckled at this. “I guess it’s a hero’s spirit thing, scamming and stealing from all shops.”

Four hummed in acknowledgement.

When they finally get to the castle, about fifteen minutes later, they are greeted by the Princess. Her hair, sleek yet somehow at the same time quite bushy, a dark orange-red colour, up in a high ponytail tied with a bow, appears woven with golden strands in the sunlight. Only her circlet signifies that she’s royalty, as her dress has been replaced with pants and a bright red shirt of the same shade as her bow. Why is anyone’s guess, but Sky thinks either way a dress is a bit more practical than the dresses he had seen all the other’s Zeldas wearing.

“Link!” She called down the path, brightly but also a bit exasperated. “Where the heck have you been? The minish have been asking for you day and night! It’s more than a bit annoying, actually, now that I think about it, but I don’t really mind! Anyways,” she talked a mile a minute, ever full of energy and seemingly never running out of topics to talk about. She complained, she complimented, and she gossiped. 

It’s only after a few minutes full of mostly one-sided discussion about things such as kinstones and swords and clouds, of all things, that Zelda notices Sky, and so of course her attention is directed towards him.

“Oh, hello there! What’s your name? I’m Zelda, but you can call me Dot, if you like. Or not. It kinda seems like the minish like you, they’ve been talking about Link and his friends ever since you visited them in the forest a few months ago. But, as I’m sure you well know, a few months ago was a few months ago. And a few months ago was a long time before now.” Zelda, or Dot, supposed Sky, looked as though she would continue and then noticed Sky once more. 

A sheepish grin spread across Dot’s face. “‘M sorry about that. I didn’t mean to keep you from talking, you know. Your name?”

“Well,” Sky said with a grin, “I share a name with your friend over there, Link, or should I say Four, as that’s what he’s currently going by. I’m Sky, nice to meet you!”

Dot tilted her head in confusion for a second before shrugging it off. “Why’d you pick that? No matter! The Sky’s a cool place, probably, though sadly my only experience with it was being imprisoned at the top of a tower thousands of feet in the air, but I would like to fly. I can’t fathom how that would be possible, and though I’d like to invent something to do so, Father always tells me not to pursue such matters.” 

Four, who had fallen back a bit, so as to let Dot talk to Sky, came a bit closer and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. “I was wondering if the sword-fighting tournament was still on.”

Dot gives a thumbs up. “Yep, it’s still happening, although I haven’t yet gotten my turn.” She looks at Sky, and then Four. “Did you want to enter?”

“But of course,” responded Four with a mock bow. “How else am I supposed to beat you in a swordfight?”

“Sure, I guess,” said Sky, a bit hesitant, but he figured what could go wrong.

As Dot led the two down the path, skipping and chittering the whole way, Sky noticed the castle looming ahead. It wasn’t particularly large for a castle, at least going by what a ‘castle’ was in the other’s Hyrules, but it was impressive nonetheless.

It wasn’t as majestic as Twilight’s, without the sweeping purple roofs and the many towers poking up from the ground every which way, interlaced with bridges, and nor is it Time’s, a relative fortress with little slivers of blue among the walls. It isn’t Legend’s, which is mostly a courtyard, blooming with life, and nor is it Hyrule’s, almost abandoned with only a corner of it occupied, yet still happy as can be.

The best way to describe it is small. It’s a quaint little dwelling, though clearly fancier than the rest of the world. Sky can see light shining through the stained glass windows that adorned the walls even from this far away. 

Dot led them on, perhaps going a bit more quickly than was strictly necessary, and as they approached the grounds where the tournament took place, Sky breathed in the nature around them. The trees and grass were so green, the flowers bloomed so bright, and the world simply felt so alive.

As he sat down in the area where the tournament was, he heard a strange rustling sound next to him. When Sky looked down, he saw an oddly-shaped (and coloured, for the record) rock, broken cleanly in half. Perhaps cleanly wasn’t the right word, as there were ridges where it had been cut, but it was broken in half all the same.

“They bring good luck, or at least they’re said to do so,” said Four, a grin on his face. Four handed Sky the rock, and Sky couldn’t resist fingering the grooves and staring at the deep red colour. It was beautiful, same as the rest of Four’s land.

Sky looked up, into the air, where he knew his own home had once been. If the sun shone any brighter in that moment, it was purely coincidental. But as he turned back to the rest of the festival, he smiled just a bit wider.

**Author's Note:**

> love how when theres a 2k word limit i can fill it so easily


End file.
